Wenshan-Neihu MRT line discount ends next month

By Mo Yan-chih / Staff Reporter

The Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) will cancel its ticket discount policy on the Wenshan-Neihu MRT Line next month after the contractors completed its compatibility test, and the line’s reliability reached 99.87 percent.

Passengers using EasyCards on the line have enjoyed a 36 percent discount since July 2009.

TRTC General Director Tan Gwa-guang (譚國光) said the reliability test, which was conducted for eight months, confirmed the stability of the system and the discount will be canceled sometime next month after the TRTC finished standard procedures including a ticketing program change and fare adjustment announcement.

“The company has no plans to continue the discount policy. Our tests have confirmed the stability of the Neihu Line, and we will continue to ensure the safety of passengers while providing excellent service,” he said.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) joined Tan in defending the stability and reliability of the line and said the increasing number of passengers using the line also showed that the Neihu Line did helped ease heavy public transportation demand in Taipei.

The policy of deploying on-train staff, in which staff members are assigned to stay in the self-driving trains and handle emergencies on the malfunction-prone line, however, will not be discontinued despite the high stability of the service, he said.

As the number of daily passengers using the line increased from 140,000 to 180,000, on-train staff can continue to offer various services while handling any emergencies, Tan said.